The world on a platter

SAVVY L.A. eaters know that to see the world -- or at the very least, taste it -- all you need to do is stay home. Paris, Singapore, New York -- yadda, yadda, yadda. We’d argue that nowhere else can you find the ethnic varieties of cheap eats that you find in Los Angeles. (But feel free to barrage us with challenges.) Moreover, not only can you eat the food, you can also dip your toe into another culture.

Stroll Pioneer Boulevard and you’re suddenly in the Gujarat state of India. Enter Fairfax Avenue just south of Olympic Boulevard and the super-relaxed cafe crowd transports you to Ethiopia. Grab a beer in Gardena and you’re in a Tokyo bar minus the jet lag.

Turn the page for a quick guide to rediscovering four of our tastiest neighborhoods, including (since you’re making the trip) good reasons to visit beyond the gastronomic delights.

Taiwanese treasures

Where It’s At: San Gabriel, easily accessible from the 10 Freeway, is home to the San Gabriel Mission. Built in 1771, it’s one of the best-preserved missions in the state and just a few minutes from your final destination: Valley Boulevard. Best time to start exploring: mornings, before the lunch rush.

You Know You’re There Because ... You’ll see some seriously chaotic traffic. Valley Boulevard is San Gabriel’s busiest retail street, with mega shopping centers selling cellphone accessories, Chinese herbs and just about anything else. Many signs are written in Chinese or Vietnamese, and the ethnic mix extends to Italian Americans, Latinos and Taiwanese. As a result, there’s good eating on nearly every block, whether you’re craving Taiwanese hot pot, 99-cent dim sum or Vietnamese banh mi sandwiches.

The Taste You’re Looking For: The Taiwanese just may have perfected street food, with their greasy, hand-held concoctions, and breakfast is perhaps the epitome of this. A hearty morning meal usually consists of steamed meat buns and fluffy, savory pastries, with sweet or savory soy milk soup (perhaps the one thing here requiring a utensil).

Best Bets: The Yung Ho Tou Chiang restaurant (533 W. Valley Blvd.) has a big selection of Taiwanese treats under the menu’s dim sum section. A breakfast here isn’t complete without salty bean milk ($1.25), a hot and soupy soy milk you eat with thinly sliced crullers (also called Chinese doughnuts) -- two sticks of crispy fried dough perfect for dunking.

For meat lovers, the flaky slabs of sesame bread with thinly sliced beef and pickled vegetables can’t be beat. If you’re vegetarian, try the shao bing (95 cents), a baked wheat cake with no meat or filling. Another must-have: the salted rice roll ($2), a fried cruller with dehydrated salted pork wrapped in sticky rice.

We’re not talking diet food here, so follow breakfast with a light beverage. Head west on Valley to Tea Station (158 W. Valley Blvd.), by the Taiwanese franchise Ten Ren, for a boba milk tea ($2.75 for take-away, $3.75 if you have a seat in the busy tearoom). Tea Station’s sweetened tapioca boba tends to be chewier and its tea -- served hot or cold -- distinctly more fragrant than many of its competitors’. You can also pick up bags or loose-leaf tea. The store carries a range easily found at Asian markets, or even Costco, but it also stocks rarer black and green teas from Taiwan, for a price: Some are more than $100 a pound.

As Long as You’re in San Gabriel ... Get a Chinese foot massage -- which, at no more than $15 an hour, has to be one of the best deals in L.A. At Foot Massage (Life Plaza Center, 250 Valley Blvd., Suite H), you also get a “free” shoulder rub included in the price. No, the spa won’t win any decor awards, but the acupressure-based massage (or the televised Chinese soap opera) will transport you. English isn’t spoken here, but there’s a banner listing services near the front, from full-body massages to cupping (the detox treatment involving heated cups placed on the skin and popularized in the West by Gwyneth Paltrow -- who, we’re guessing, doesn’t get it done here).

For a refuge from the noise on Valley, continue heading west to San Gabriel Nursery (632 S. San Gabriel Blvd.), one of the largest and oldest independent nurseries in the Southland. Gardeners and landscapers come from as far as the East Coast, but you’re welcome to just stroll through the fruit trees (mangoes, longan, cherimoya), the rose section or the excellent bonsai collection (some of the larger trees were recently donated to the Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens). For $59.98, you could buy yourself the fragrant evergreen Michelia champaca alba; the nursery was one of the first in the area to cultivate this prized specimen.

-- C.D.

Snacks in Little India

Where It’s At: Just south of Pio Pico State Historic Park -- the 19th century ranch that belonged to California’s last Mexican governor -- is the unassuming suburb of Artesia, home to the second-largest Indian and Pakistani population in the U.S.

You Know You’re There Because ... The five sprawling blocks and nondescript strip malls that pepper Pioneer Boulevard -- Little India’s main drag -- are a riot of color: windows crammed with bright rolls of embroidered and sequined sari fabric or mountains of rainbow-hued sweets. Grocery store aisles lined with mounds of red lentils, beige chickpeas and obscenely yellow jars of ghee (clarified butter).

The Taste You’re Looking For: If you equate battered and fried with edible, then welcome to heaven. This neighborhood specializes in farsan specialties (vegetarian snacks -- mostly savory, usually crunchy -- found in India’s western Gujarat state), but you’ll find dosa and naan bread from the north as well.

Best Bets: What Rasraj Sweets & Farsan (18511 S. Pioneer Blvd.) lacks in ambience it makes up for in friendliness. The menus at the snack shops on Pioneer can be overwhelming (we counted 29 items in Rasraj’s farsan section alone), but the staff will gladly make recommendations. Or consult the photographs of daily specials that line the mirrors on the walls. The Gujarati thali lunch ($5.50) -- reminding expats of home -- can be found at most restaurants in the area, and Rasraj’s special comes with jasmine rice, roti (unleavened bread), puri (a cracker-like flatbread), dal (stewed lentils), a hot pickle and a vegetable dish of your choice (such as the fiery spinach paneer). Keep a mango lassi ($1.99) nearby for when you can’t feel your tongue anymore.

Be sure to save room for sweets. Choose from the assortment of barfi (a dense, cheesecake-like cake that comes in flavors such as ginger, pistachio and rose; $1 each) if only to say, “I’d like some barfi” to the guy behind the counter.

For a cooler sweet, go to Saffron Spot (18744 Pioneer Blvd.), tucked deep within the Little India Village shopping center (flanked by a pair of lion statues). Indian ice cream (made without eggs) is called kulfi; flavors run from the traditional (mango and pista, or pistachio) to more exotic tastes such as rajbhog, a mix of saffron, pistachios, cashews, almonds and cardamom ($2.75 for one scoop). The sugarcane juice is worth a try, if only to watch how it’s made: The juice is pressed out of 2 feet of sugarcane bark in what looks like a wood chipper.

As Long as You’re in Little India ... Check out Bombay Spices (18626 Pioneer Blvd.). More a corner epicerie than full-service grocery, the store is a one-stop shop for dried goods, Vishnu and Ganesha altarpieces, and a wonderful collection of Amar Chitra Katha comics. The series, dating to 1967, tells epic adventures of the Hindu gods, goddesses and heroes who battle against evil demons and spiritual weakness.

Follow that with a trip to the Naz 8 Cinemas (6440 E. South St., Lakewood -- it’s Artesia-adjacent), where locals get their fix of Bollywood. Even if the plot gets lost in translation, the glorious costumes, hypnotic soundtracks and dance moves must be sampled at least once (think “Hindi Idol”).

Spa lovers can check out eyebrow threading, the age-old Indian alternative to plucking or waxing. Sona Chaandi (18307 Pioneer Blvd.) charges $7 and also offers henna and more traditional spa services. While you wait, nip into the salon’s apparel shop for a pair of elaborately decorated slippers or a sari fitting.

-- C.D.

Yakitori in Gardena

Where It’s At: A century ago, Gardena was known as Southern California’s berry capital. It’s also where some of the nation’s first farmers markets opened. These days, there’s more concrete than agriculture, though you can still see traces of the late 19th century railroad boom in the paved-over tracks.

You Know You’re There Because ... A lot of the business parks in neighboring Torrance house Japanese-owned companies, and much of the off-campus dining happens in the specialty noodle shops and unpretentious gastropubs of Gardena. Here you’ll find a more authentic everyday Japanese eating experience than in the slicker sushi and izakaya joints on the Westside.

The Taste You’re Looking For: Yakitori is simply meat on skewers cooked over charcoal. Traditionally, the meat is chicken, but it can also include beef, pork belly and vegetables, making it a winner among the beer- and sake-drinking set.

Best Bets: The restaurant Shin-Sen-Gumi, a Japanese chain whose specialty is hakata ramen (which has a milky pork-based broth), is a favorite destination for noodle fanatics. But it also has a yakitori branch at the corner of a mini-mall (18517 S. Western Ave.). Don’t panic when the wave of Japanese shouting from the largely male wait staff hits you upon arrival. Grab a seat at the bar, and once you get over the hurdle of raising your first glass -- a ritual involving collective coaxing -- you’re handed a sheet of paper and a pencil (you order per skewer; items range from $1.25 to $4). After all this, your heart rate settles and you can concentrate on the food. Some of the best items include the chicken thigh, yummy pork belly (like bacon on a stick), Japanese chili pepper and the shiso basil leaf wrapped in pork belly. For those who like a little extra crunch, go for the chicken cartilage and gizzard.

As Long as You’re in Gardena ... At the Marukai Everything 98 Cents Plus Store (1360 Artesia Blvd.), most everything you’ll want to buy actually costs $1.50. But what makes this a truly outstanding cheapo store is the gardening section, where you can find shears, gloves, flowerbed fences and adorable pudgy Japanese garden gnomes for that low price.

A few blocks away is the regular Marukai Market (1740 Artesia Blvd.), home of hard-to-find Hawaiian groceries. An entire aisle is devoted to li hing, the coveted sweet and sour plum that drives islanders nuts (li hing-flavored sour apple gummies, li hing dried mangoes, li hing cakes).

And, of course, check out the karaoke bars. There are plenty, and most offer private rooms by the hour. Bolder types can head to Daruma Karaoke Pub (15915 Western Ave., Suite A), where, after downing copious amounts of sake or beer, you can sing for an audience of rowdy Japanese business folk mixing work with play, starting at 9 Friday nights.

-- C.D.

Explore Little Ethiopia

Where It’s At: Between Olympic and Pico boulevards on Fairfax Avenue in the Mid-City district, formerly known to locals as SoFax. At one point, the neighborhood was defined by Jewish-owned businesses, much like the Fairfax district to the north. But Ethiopian and Eritrean immigrants turned the strip into a distinct pocket of northeast African cuisine and fashion in the early ‘90s -- so much so that the neighborhood’s character is felt as far south as Washington Boulevard.

You Know You’re There Because ... There’s Bob Marley -- everywhere. Though Addis Ababa is a long way from Jamaica, Marley’s imagery of African liberation apparently has an eager audience in Little Ethiopia, or maybe just among USC kids trolling for stoner wares. At any hour, you’ll catch tables of bemused men smoking cigarettes in sidewalk cafes while jazzy strains of traditional tezetas (love ballads) provide a soundtrack to a languid meal.

The Taste You’re Looking For: Your opinions on injera, the spongy, sour flatbread (actually, more like a pancake) that doubles as your primary utensil, will probably determine how well you take to the rest of Ethiopian cuisine. Think of it as an African tortilla, only here you dip pieces of it into spicy mashed lentils, aromatic vegetable stews and halal-style lamb (no pork or shellfish, forbidden under Ethiopia’s most popular religions). Don’t be shy about getting your fingers messy; everyone eats with their hands, usually from a single plate atop a colorful woven tablecloth.

Some restaurants offer an elaborate coffee ceremony at the end of your meal, and don’t miss it. Coffee first grew wild in Ethiopia, and no culture takes its java more seriously.

Best Bets: Little Ethiopia isn’t exactly sprawling -- the shopping and dining options make up about two blocks. But what a two blocks: Start at Merkato (1036 1/2 S. Fairfax Ave.), which is like entering the hub of a small village. The place quadruples as a gift shop, coffee bar, “bar” bar and restaurant. The appealingly untidy shop is packed with obscure items such as “parfin” hair oil and fragrant grape hookah tobacco, as well as bulk bins stuffed with dried peas, turmeric, flaxseed and lentils. You could just stop for coffee at the small thatched bar in the back or walk directly into the restaurant, where you’ll do well to order a bottle of honey wine called t’ej and a helping of yebeg alicha (mild lamb stew spiced with garlic and ginger, $7.99). The best part? You can choose to consume the meal while perched on a saddle draped in colorful fabric. (Warning: This could make or break a first date.)

Across the street is Rahel (1047 S. Fairfax Ave.), a cafe with a 100% vegan menu. Ethiopian cuisine is unusually kind to vegetarians and vegans and makes no attempt at replicating meat dishes. But you won’t care once you’ve tasted Rahel’s yemisir kik wot (lentils in red pepper sauce, $9.95), yeater alicha (split pea stew with onions and garlic, also $9.95). The juices made from flax and sunflower seeds ($3.95) are an acquired taste, but we’re sure they’re very, very good for you.

Down the block is the neighborhood’s best splurge: Meals by Genet (1053 S. Fairfax Ave.). Just like the sign says, the meals here are prepared by a woman named Genet, who, as her super-friendly head waiter proudly pointed out, would “never let anyone else near her kitchen.” Good thing too. Her food is lovingly presented, particularly her specialty -- doro wot (spicy chicken stewed in a delicate red pepper sauce, cooked with Ethiopian butter and served with two boiled eggs, $16). Genet happily plugs the place that makes her bread -- Rosalind’s (1044 S. Fairfax Ave.), an injera bakery attached to a popular restaurant.

As Long as You’re in Little Ethiopia ... Drop into the appropriately named Jah Lambs & Lions International (1030 S. Fairfax Ave.), which smells heavily of (believe it or not) incense. Stock up on woven hats and groovy hoodies, or snag a “B Is for Bob” onesie ($20) for a shower gift.

For a more elegant take on fashion, scoot across the street to Safari Ethiopian Store (1049 S. Fairfax Ave.), which features divinely soft, hand-woven and undyed Ethiopian cotton. The lamb-white coffee dresses with colorful trim ($85) or the flowing princess dresses ($250) are straight out of a hipster daydream. Or pick up one of the traditional Ethiopian blankets (gabi, $65) to inspire your own sweet dreams.

-- J.G.

weekend@latimes.com